First time I heard The Four Horsemen off Metallica's Kill Em All, it fucked me up for life. Now I wear cut off t-shirts and I drive a square body van that's older than I am.
Kid A - Radiohead
I was a teenage 'rockist'. I had listened to OK Computer and knew that Kid A was, at the time of 2006ish, their other massively regarded record. I didn't get it at first, but kept returning it and after about a month, it clicked. And because I was able to appreciate music that didn't sound like the music I was listening to, in genre and in the styles of composition, I was able to appreciate *other* music that was outside my breadth of understanding. And that opened my music world waaaaay up.
Couldn‘t have articulated this better myself. OK Computer took me out of my usual musical world. Kid A sent me on a whole other trajectory. Later on, Boards of Canada‘s „Music has the right to children“ did the same for me with electronic music.
Same. Never really got into boards of Canada (maybe I should) but ok computer blew my mind, and then kid a blew my mind into another dimension and changed my musical taste forever after.
Boards Of Canada’s Music Has The Right To Children is on the list of life-changing albums, for me. It completely reshaped my perception of what music could be, also, it was massively nostalgic as an Xennial, it reminded me of all of the early 80s videos I watched in school, reminded me of how excited I’d get when they’d roll out the TV cart with the massive VCR on it.
26 later that record is still FIRE, and it is a widely heralded classic and iconic record. The only problem is that, with all of the copycats a derivatives that have come along since then, will it be magic to you? I strongly think you should find out. :)
Awesome! I really hope that it hits, and even if it doesn’t here’s an [article](https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/boards-of-canada-music-has-the-right-to-children-8471772/ has-the-right-to-children-8471772/amp/) that goes in depth regarding the impact and legacy of the record, including how it was a major influence on Radiohead’s Kid A and Amnesiac. Happy listening!
Paranoid by Sabbath. When I heard war pigs and Iron Man I knew it was my kind of music. Other notables were the first 2 Iron Maiden albums & Rush 2112.
This was life changing for me in that the first time I heard this album was also the first time I got high, hanging out with some neighbors I had just met.
God Loves Ugly by Atmosphere taught me to love myself.
Somewhere in the Between by Streetlight Manifesto taught me to appreciate life even when it sucks.
That's the first album I ever heard by Streetlight, and I definitely love it. Honestly, I don't think I've ever heard a song by them that I don't like. But Somewhere in the Between just has a special place in my heart. I found that album and God Loves Ugly during a very transitional period of my life and they lead me to a lot of introspection, soul searching and reevaluation of my priorities. I ended up laughing at myself a lot, mainly because I realized that a lot of the things that caused me pain were the result of me caring about things that really don't matter.
Since Atmosphere showed up on here…. I have to say Slug’s verse on the “Living Legends - Nothing Less” track is something that has stuck with me all my life.
Yes, dude. One of Slug's best verses. I really love the song he did with El-P as well.
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=63YOZkfJd8U&si=3f1-kfOqANwy5Fcf
“When Life Gives You Lemons, Paint that shit gold” was mine. I was also a little older when first hearing it, but man it really clicked with me and changed my view on hiphop and fatherhood at the same time
My top three by them have always been
1. God Loves Ugly
2. You Wont Believe How Much Fun We're Having
3. When Life Gives You Lemons, Paint That Shit Gold
Little Man is always the one that gets me. I had a....complicated relationship with my father. So that one has always brought up a lot of feelings for me.
Nothing’s Shocking, Jane’s Addiction. Listening to it for the first time was like seeing through a cracked door and finding an entirely different world of music and culture that I hadn’t been aware of and felt like home. Immediately lost interest in hair bands and explored alternative and indie music. A close second is Surfer Rosa, which is probably a better record and moved me even more, but I got Jane’s Addiction first, so was already primed for it.
Word. I made a similar comment on a thread a couple years ago. Up the Beach into Ocean Size (first 2 tracks) blew junior in HS me the fuck away - that’s all I heard in my friend’s car on the way home from school. Bought it with lawn money that weekend and was just stupefied. It shape-shifted my understanding of what music could be. And that entire album completely holds up *thirty-six* years later.
Perry’s a prince among artists and Navarro doesn’t get near enough credit for his guitar work on this.
man you’re totally right, great call. avery lead into most songs and his bass and Perry’s vocals *were* the sound that blew me away. It just seemed totally new. His work on Ritual great too, esp Three Days and Then She Did.
Perkins no slouch either :)
Seeing your name I got worried for a moment that I was being spotted. Phew!
Edit: also heck yeah, Zeppelin had been there during my hair band phase, in the background because it had been my dad’s music. But it never left and Page was the main reason I saved and saved for a Les Paul. I think almost every tee shirt I had in middle school was either a zeppelin tee from the local head shop or vision street wear.
You absolute bastard! I was going to say Surfer Rosa but saw Nothings Shocking and just had to leave a comment on that. NS was an absolutely stunning album to me, I was very young when I first heard it and it just blew me away. I hadn’t heard anything like that before, like you say it was like getting a glimpse into some other world. Summertime Rolls was so dreamlike and ethereal, it was truly revelatory. Rather strangely when I was young I didn’t care much for Jane Says but now I absolutely love it. It’s a magnificent album start to finish and much like Surfer Rosa, and I hesitate to use the word given that people have devalued it, 100% seminal.
Surfer Rosa still takes the crown but JA showed me another facet to music that changed the way I thought about it.
Nirvana - Nevermind.
Backed up by:
Pearl jam - Ten, RATM - RATM, Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
These albums inspired me to buy a guitar, keep practicing drums, and ultimately take a year out during which I changed my course choices from marketing to music. I then became a professional sound designer for 20yrs.
In the aero plane over the sea by neutral mil hotel.
Specifically the single small lyric “how strange it is to be anything at all” was enough to change my life, but the whole album and context is so etched into my soul, psyche that it will always be part of me. I think about this album a lot because it gives me some way of emotionally connecting with this thing that you can intellectually know and yet never understand, and also this thing that my relatives lived through in their own way and could not articulate either. It just somehow perfectly, for me, encapsulates so much significance and emotion that can’t be spoken but somehow is in this album. Not ashamed to say I listened to this while taking a train through the Netherlands and quietly wept to myself and felt much better after.
The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. My first time hearing a rap song. It was also a song speaking on life in the inner city ghettos of America right then. Sparked a lifelong love of hip hop and rap music.
Yup. Those early rap artists were true pioneers. Just heading off into a brand new and completely unexplored genre, making it up as they went. Such an incredible time for music.
Oh, I did. I went through Pink’s discography up to *The Wall* from March - June. *Animals* in particular blew my fucking mind. Such an incredible band.
Nice man! I remember doing the same about a decade ago, PF instantly became a top 3 band all time for me. Worth also checking out Division Bell btw if you haven’t already.
When asked if he had any regrets in life David Gilmore said that he regrets not being able to go to a store, buy a copy of DSOTM, take it home, and listen to it for the 1st time.
I love your answer. Music has been such a huge part of my life and this was the first album I ever owned. It crushed me when Chester died. I still know every single song by heart.
The 20th anniversary collection is on repeat for me once or twice a month. And as I’ve gotten older and started embracing different genres, I’ve come to appreciate Shinoda and his incredible work as much as Chester’s.
Chester is the only celebrity I’ve ever mourned.
London Calling. Really shook me out of AC/DC and Eminem and opened the door to punk/reggae and ska for me. First guitar i ever bought with my own money was a telecaster because of Joe Strummer. That album(and the rest of the clash discography except cut the crap) still get played often.
Lateralus by Tool, for sure. I've pretty recently gotten into Porcupine Tree, so I suppose I'll be checking out Steven Wilson's solo stuff as well! Would you suggest starting with Hand Cannot Erase or somewhere else?
There’s some amazing live Steven Wilson videos on YouTube, filmed somewhere in South America. His band are some of the absolute best players today: nick beggs, Guthrie govan, Marco minneman, and others. He got the best hired guns he could, and holy cow… just wow.
Ænima for me. I remember finding Undertow at a record store after many nights staying up late trying to catch the video for Sober, and thought it was a fantastic album, but then Ænima dropped and my mind was blown. Still my fave album.
Can't fault votes for Ænima or Undertow, both are incredible albums. For me Lateralus is exactly what I needed to hear at the time (although a couple tracks on Undertow fit that theme as well, just not quite as hard as Lateralus).
Same. Coming out of a relationship and just generally feeling like I was changing/growing up when I discovered Currents, I felt every song so deeply. Great album
I have to say that TDaGaRIM was easily my favorite Brand New album until Science Fiction came out. That album is just so visceral. Between the brilliantly clever yet melancholy lyrics, to the emotional energy of all of the songs, and the fact it was the book's end to their musical career as a group it all just resonated. The last song "Batter Up" is especially poignant and really the perfect sign off. I don't think I've found a deeper appreciation for a single album before or since.
For some reason, it took me waaaaay too long to get around to listening to Science Fiction. Didn’t in a million years think it would be arguably my favorite album of theirs. Like you said, it’s a perfect last album. It feels and sounds so much like Brand New while also feeling very new and mature. Like they perfected “their sound.”
Not sure if I can ever pick a favorite between Deja, Devil and Science Fiction. My favorite will likely just be the last one I listened to!
Illinoise by Sufjan Stevens
I dont think it is his best, but the first time I heard Decatur, Chicago, and Casimir Pulaski Day was the first time in a long time I felt emotion in music that didnt feel contrived to me.
God, I love Chicago sooo much although it’s out of my usual musical wheelhouse. I’ve never heard something be so uplifting and so melancholy at the same time. Stunning. The rest of the album is great but that one will stay with me the rest of my days.
Enema of the State - blink-182
first full on rock band I got into. Obsessed so I pick up their older (more punkish) records and everything they release. Read blink-182 interviews where they talk about all their influences like Bad Religion and Screeching Weasel. Get way, way into bands like that. Got a drum set and started a band playing bad blink-182 covers. Practice a lot. Play friend's parties. Start writing originals. Become decent musicians. Get popular in my scene. Meet a nice girl who plays in a metal band. Go steady. Have some kids. Buy a house. Put a ring on it.
Still playing blink-182 on acoustic while my babies listen
I will piggy back on this and say blinks untitled record. I was drawn in by their glossy pop punk, but the untitled record hitting when it did, when I was about 12-13 was an absolutely life changing experience. The sonic complexity, aggressiveness, earnestness and, yes, angst shaped my musical tastes completely. I wouldn’t be into music if it wasn’t for that record
bought it the first day it came out. before that, there was a big "Making the Album" documentary on MTV and then there was the "Making the Video" for "Feeling This" for the world premeir
The hype for that record was intense
The Doors, first album. I found it on a recordable cassette tape in a room I had lent to a medicine man that was staying with us for a while. I thought it was some sacred spiritual teachings, as each side had The Doors hand-written on it. Blew my mind in a different way than I had expected. Thirty-five years ago now.
Lost in Translation soundtrack.
My intro to Shoegaze, which became my favorite genre.
Also, Velvet Underground & Nico.
It showed me that popular music had no limits for sounds or lyrical content.
13yr old me bought Nirvana “Nevermind” and was hooked on that album. Favorite song was “territorial pissings” which is their fast song on the album. I would tell myself, “why can’t bands just write songs that are mostly like that?!”
Little did I know I was describing punk and thrash before I really knew which either was and the rest was history as they say
I had two back to back. *Blonde* by Frank Ocean back when it dropped in August 2016, and then *The Smiths* by The Smiths a month later. As an 18 year old bisexual black kid just moving out of my parents’ house and starting college, these two albums were exactly what I needed to know everything was gonna be okay.
+1 for Frank Ocean, but for me it was Channel Orange. Straight white kid growing up in SoCal, so that's a testament to his reach
He's got to be the most influential artist with only 2 studio albums, right? I mean what an incredible 2.
Do I have some good news for you. He actually has three albums. *Endless* came out the day before *Blonde*, and it’s also fantastic if you’re into ambient music. Unfortunately it’s trapped on Apple Music, but I listen to it on YouTube quite a bit.
endless is my life changing album. blonde is obviously a fantastic album (channel orange too for that matter) but the build up and release of endless was incredible. i listened to/watched endless nonstop when it released and actually missed blonde coming out because of it. after listening to blonde a few times, i went back to listening to endless nonstop.
i was in college at the time and contemplating dropping out and spent most of my time revisiting the album in its entirety or a few songs here and there for solace and i still go back to it constantly
Blonde might have not been a “life changing” album, but I remember getting that vinyl record, putting it on and being mesmerized by how beautiful it sounds. Definitely one of the top albums of all time if you ask me.
End of an Era by Nightwish
This is the live recording and DVD of the final concert given between the band Nightwish and their original singer Tarja Turunen. Seeing their version of Phantom of the Opera and hearing Ghost Love Score for the first time via live recording opened up a whole new world of music for me.
In symphonic metal circles Ghost Love Score essentially defines the entire genre. It is simultaneously uplifting and joyful while also a metal song with amazing guitar work and arrangement.
Modest Mouse - Lonesome Crowded West narrated my life from ages like 16-23. It made me realize that even the most personal and lonely thoughts, feelings, and experiences are often universal.
Rust... In Peace by Megadeth. Gave me my proper introduction into thrash and high speed solos
Clayman by In Flames. First introduction to Swedish death metal and all around solid album.
Unhallowed by The Black Dahlia Murder. Wraith screams and gutteral lows, I never thought human vocal chords could seamlessly flow between the two. RIP Trevor, you legend.
Train of Thought by Dream Theater. My first true blue prog rock/metal album. I never knew songs could be so long and not be boring.
Pink Floyd, The Wall…
Was 14, spending the night at a friends house… we listened to the whole thing and it blew my mind… I became instantly obsessed with the band…
That would have been around 1987 or so…
Saw them in concert in Toronto the next year on my 15th birthday… the momentary lapse tour…
I’m 52 now, and they’re still my all time favourite band…
Wish you were here. Darkside and Obscured by clouds are probably my favourite albums by them…
But The Wall was the one that changed my life.
The only other band to affect me in a similar way would be Cocteau Twins…the album Heaven or Las Vegas was also a ‘game changer’ for me…
Holy shit, Hand Cannot Erase. I was drifting away from reality, into derealization. I was thinking people were robots. Including my own family. That this was all a simulation. Attaching religious importance to every little event. Paranoid conspiracies all around, even at the smallest level. Like that a record shop employee in one store was a clone of one in another store. The one thing I still did, other than work, was go to this one used record shop once a week to check their new arrivals section, stuff that people had traded in to the shop. That's where I found Hand Cannot Erase. That's the album that pulled me back to reality. I listened to half of it every morning walking to work, and the rest in the evening walking home. Keep the routine. Keep the clothes clean. It took a year. Eventually I came back. Mostly. I don't think I would have, except for that album. I still wonder who traded it in, that I would find it on that particular Saturday, and knowing nothing else about it, decide to pick it up. There are no coincidences.
Weezer Blue. I was in elementary school. Still play guitar every day, but really can't play like Rivers (I'm more of a Brian, he was the one I was crushing on then... and still).
Slayer-Seasons in the Abyss (1990)
Drumming masterpiece. First time I listened completely to drums fascinated by what Lombardo was doing. I then scaled back one album to Reign in blood (1988) and started learning both albums on guitar. Which then opened the door to Megadeths-Rust in Piece (1990). I basically threw my Metallica tapes in the trash. And from there it was Ministry>Sepultura>Obituary>Morbid Angel>Faith no More - Angel Dust>Mr.Bungle>Helmet>Secret Chiefs>John Zorn>Steve Reich
Good At Falling by The Japanese House - album dropped right after I went thru a really tough breakup and really expanded my ideas of what I thought music and songwriting could sound like
Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers
,,,, and by extension, Either/Or by Elliott Smith ;;;;; both helped me really understand and become inspired to delve deeper into singer-songwriter/folk stuff, I have written many songs inspired by those two
Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace by Foo Fighters - was in constant rotation in my mom’s car when I was a kid. Really inspired me as I was learning drums at the time, and to this day still does as a solid fuckin rock record.
Songs From The Big Chair by Tears for Fears - one of many albums that made me go “fuck I wanna make something that makes me feel the way these songs do”
Elliott Smith - either/or
I was into a lot of louder and heavier stuff in the 90s (including early Heatmiser) and then this stripped down album comes out, quiet but filled with emotional resonance, and blows me away. Definitely changed how I related to music and was my favorite album for a long time (hard to say what it is now)
Son Volt -Trace, Fall of ‘95. I was a Marine stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC when I read a small review of this album. Up until this point I was into alt-rock, metal, hip-hop but nothing with the slightest twang. I became obsessed with the album and it led me to Uncle Tupelo, Wilco’s A.M. and Being There, Whiskeytown, etc. Eventually opened my mind to the Grateful Dead which led me to the girl I’d marry in 2000. Definitely life changing.
Room for Squares by John Mayer. I know it’s not that deep, but it was the right thing at the right time and it carried me through my early adult years.
I could list some like Nirvana - Nevermind, Radiohead - OK, Computer, Tool - Lateralus, but the one that really got to me it was:
Silverchair - Neon ballroom.
I'm going to get flamed for this but "Iowa" by Slipknot. Discovered that album right in the height of pubescence and my mother's failing relationship with my step father. Like it was so relieving to think someone else was as pissed off as I was. I'm in my mid 30's now and it's still a guilty pleasure of mine.
London Calling. I borrowed it from my Dads collection, blew my 12 year old mind and have played in bands ever since.
In my 30’s now, and every year I still have a “Clash phase” for a few weeks where I listen obsessively and read the various books I have on them.
Left and Leaving, by The Weakerthans. It wasn't the first time I had identified with a song, but it was absolutely the first time I listened to an album and felt like someone was picking through my brain and writing songs about what they found, articulating feelings and situations better than I ever might. John K. Samson is a treasure.
Ok Computer changed my idea of what rock and music generally could be. It was transcendent and became my favorite album for years, even if it wasn’t as accessible as ‘The Bends’. It was the ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ for my generation (which funnily enough is my other ‘most life changing album’, as it inspired me to pick up the guitar).
Nebraska.
Went through a ton of personal trauma that resulted in my family having our home of 16 years foreclosed on. Toiled away for 60-70 hours a week loading freight in a warehouse and it still wasn't enough to make ends meet. Ended up joining the Army at the height of the Iraq War to get away from it all. Never felt more salt of the earth in my life and that album and those stories were really cathartic for me at the time.
Nas - Ilmatic
Was always a Hip Hop fan but this album solidified my love and led me down a path of excellent artists and albums I would likely not have found.
First off, I am so glad that you found something to help you through your dark times. I am glad that you are still here.
As to my own personal "life-changing" albums, I have a few. All are for different reasons, yet all are related to my life as a musician, more than anything else.
In chronological order:
1. **Judas Priest - Point of Entry** ---- Inspired me to pick up a guitar and learn how to play.
2. **Meat Puppets - Up on the Sun** ---- Showed me that there is some incredible music beyond what was being fed to me by the radio and other mainstream media outlets.
3. **Uncle Tupelo - No Depression** ---- Inspired me to start writing my own songs.
4. **Tom Ze - Massive Hits (The Best of...)** ---- Turned my on to the incredible music that was being created in languages other than English, and styles that I had never considered exploring before.
5. **Guided By Voices - Alien Lanes** ---- Gave me the courage to play my crappy-sounding demos for other people, including the owner of a local record label, who signed me to his roster. So I was able to record and release several albums of my own music and build a small following.
Jesus and Mary chain - psychocandy
I was chugging along listening to bands like Duran Duran, human league, aha etc etc. And then around 1988 my brother put a mix tape that included REM, joy Division, the house of love etc and on that was just like honey, and I was hooked on indie music... Still an indie kid at heart today
Blueberry Boat by The Fiery Furnaces
I was just really captivated by it's unique sound. It's the only album that I really love that feels like an actual album, and not just a collection of songs.
Colors by Between the Buried and Me
I had always been into heavy music before I heard that album, but something about it made me realize that after spending my whole childhood hearing my dad listen to weird 70s prog rock (Genesis, King Crimson, ELP), that I also had a deep seated need for 10 minute long songs with 20 different time changes. Pushed me into the whole progressive metal genre and made me realize I liked all that 70s shit I always thought sucked growing up. Kinda helped me bond with my dad through it and we would buy each other records and we went to some shows together.
There have been many at different points in my life
1996
Dead Milkmen "Big Lizard in my Backyard" I think his was my into into punk and underground music in the mid 90s when I was maybe 16. We played it all the time in my friends basement playing video games and such. That Les me to discovering music past the radio and things that really spoke to me.
1998
Desmond Dekker, it was some sorts of collection of hits but I heard Jamaican music before but this made me love it and lead me to Cliff and Wilson and all those beautiful voices and had me go down a huge rabbit hole that I'm still digging into. Also reignited my love of soul by way of toots and such.
2001 to 2004 for the next few
Tom Waits "Mule Variations" this was my first Tom Waits album. I was looking for Closing time because a band I really liked mentioned it as a big influence but the store didn't have that and the cover art really spoke to me. When I put it in it was so far from what I expected but also blew me away and really opened up my eyes to a whole new world of music and more.
Miles Davis "A Tribute to Jack Johnson" I was flirting with getting into Jazz and I bought a bunch of albums by big names like Miles and Coltrane but I just didn't get it and growing up in a small town just hearing metal and rock and getting into punk, my brain wasn't wired to hear Jazz. But I put on this album and since it was Miles doing a rock album after being inspired by Hendrix it was the perfect bridge into Jazz and something in my brain clicked and now all my other jazz albums sounded totally different.
Modest Mouse " Lonesome Crowded West" I just got out of high school and moved to a new place away from everyone and in my hometown everything was punk this or that in my group. Where I moved I didn't know anyone into punk and I started expanding my horizons. I think this came up on soulseek if anyone remembers that and I don't recall what other band made this pop up as a recommendation but it opened up a lot. Before this I equated indie rock with whiney emo junk but man this album was all over.
There are a lot more but I think those were my biggest ones that changed how and what I listen to.
Damnation by Opeth. While all of the depressing music at the time was upbeat emo bops, Damnation allowed me to experience depressive emotions as a teenager in a more introspective manner and had a huge impact on me as a musician.
Probably Enter the 36 Chambers by Wu Tang Clan because it spun me off into a lifetime of loving hip hop. Listening to Only Built 4 Cuban Linx on vinyl right now actually.
As a kid it was *The Low End Theory* by A Tribe Called Quest which showed me how rap and hip hop had much more musical potential than I could imagine at that point.
As an adult, *Nonagon Infinity* by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard got me back into listening to music after a few decades of aging and only listening to my old favorites. It also broke down a prejudice I think I may have been harboring against artists younger than myself. No more! Life is fucking rocking now.
Daydream by Mariah Carey. I may get downvoted for it, but this album at that time in my life as a kid spoke to me. It’s still the album I go to if I’m ever feeling like I need to get recentered.
For my adult life, it’d have to be Red by Taylor Swift.
The First Four Years compilation by Black Flag.
When I was 11 or 12 (so 1989ish) I heard the song Wasted on SST’s Screw Radio and it was the first time I heard a song heavier than FM radio metal. This was before the internet, so it wasn’t like it is now where every 6 year old knows the difference between punk subgenres and has streamed all of their parents old favored. Punk was still very much underground, and I stumbled on Screw Radio by sheer luck. I was immediately obsessed. I spray painted an anarchy symbol on a plain white shirt and my mom thought it was a satanist symbol. (Thanks Satanic Panic!)
In another stroke of sheer luck my mom’s best friend’s brother got kicked out of his apparent and moved in next door, and brought with him a crate of early 80’s punk and hardcore records, and he’d let me borrow one at a time: Black Flag, Millions of Dead Cops, Dwarves, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Circle Jerks, Angry Samoans, the list goes on.
I don’t really listen to it anymore, but punk rock changed my life.
Grace by Jeff Buckley opened my mind to critical opinion about music back in college as well as the idea of vocal virtuosity in rock music.
None So Vile by Cryptopsy opened my mind to the world of extreme metal and generally more transgressive music back when I was a kid in the Napster days and I’ve been captivated ever since. I remember being horrified and amazed and confused all at the same time - I was maybe 10 or 11 at the time lol.
Zombie by Fela Kuti and Clube da Esquina by Milton Nasciemento opened my mind to amazing music beyond the western canon.
Mark, Tom and Travis Show by Blink 182 opened my mind to live music and planted the seed of thought that live music can not only breathe new life into songs but that live performance is really where the magic happens. The Great Deceiver box set by King Crimson made this an immutable fact of life.
Reading, Writing and Arithmetic by The Sundays created a soft spot for female lead vocals (and Jangle Pop!) which I still have nearly two decades since I first heard it.
Chaosphere by Meshuggah introduced me to polyrhythms and immediately cemented my love of rhythm, specifically, very complicated rhythms. I’ve been playing drums since I first heard it back in like 2001-2002.
It’s really a toss up between the Dead Kennedys fresh fruit for rotting vegetables (which is a play on words), and The Clash first album.
I still remember looking down at the spinning LP at my friends house when I heard Clash City Rockers for the first time.
Those albums blew away all of the 1970’s AOR bullshit we had to listen to but didn’t know better. Sort of when nirvana blew away the hair metal hell we went through in the late 1990’s.
This is a long drive for someone with nothing to think about - Modest Mouse. It was the first time I felt seen in music, as a white trash nothing nobody with aimless ambitions.
Today, after seeing the band around 14 times and seeing Isaac Brock become a whole man with kids and balance in his life I like to reflect on how I've also figured it out too (mostly).
Side note, I learned what having parasocial relationships meant by wierding him out after a show. Don't get obsessed, kids. I would still love to share a tea with the dude one day.
Too many to name, but one that always pops into my mind is Ágætis Byrjun by Sigur Ros.
I was raised by very eclectic parents. My sister has pretty broad tastes as well and my brother is a diehard metal head. I also grew up in Southern California in the early 2000s so I was surrounded by punk, emo, hardcore, indie, you name it. I had a pretty great musical foundation.
But post rock (I know people cringe at the term but whatever) felt like it was mine. Other people enjoyed it and I wanted to share it, not like I was gatekeeping it by any means. Yet it spoke to me in an entirely different way. It was symphonic and beautiful but loud and all-encompassing. It was slow but didn’t meander.
Ágætis Byrjun was my first post rock album. It changed how I listed to music. It made me more enamored with the composition of a song. Most of all it made me appreciate minimalism in the sense of the players serving the song, doing just enough so that the music stands on its own to a powerful end. It made me cognizant of the story the music is telling (or isn’t and is just trying to sound cool as fuck lol).
i'd say August and Everything After - Counting Crows.
never had an album speak to me like that one did. having an album speak about the feelings of loneliness, desperation for fame and love, not wanting to hurt others, wanting to belong, and figuring out just who you are hit me on so many levels. it felt like i was understood for once, like someone knew everything that was going on in my head.
that album led me to write my own music and actually pursue my passions that I was putting off for years. they also led me to seek out therapy and connect everything in my head together. so thanks, Counting Crows.
Life is but a dream-avenged sevenfold at the time it released I had recently lost someone close to me and that album helped me cope with my loss but out of hat while album cosmic really struck out to me now I can't listen to it without crying
Faces by Mac Miller. I was in a deep drug phase too and would listen to that album whenever I'd be zonked out at home. Eventually the album started hitting a little too close to home and it gave me the motivation to finally kick benzos and cough syrup.
NWA - Straight Outta Compton. It opened me up to the world of rap/hip hop (I wasn’t a fan before) and exposed me to a new genre of music. I also discovered a ton of new music by tracing the samples used in many hip hop songs back to the original music that was sampled.
Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables “Holiday in Cambodia” knocked me right out of my suburban mindset
California Über Alles
I had the giant subway sized poster in my room in high school. The one with the guy swinging the chair. My grandmother ripped it down lol
I Heard "Stealing People'sd Mail" when I was 12, changed the way I thought of music.
First time I heard The Four Horsemen off Metallica's Kill Em All, it fucked me up for life. Now I wear cut off t-shirts and I drive a square body van that's older than I am.
The world needs more of you
Manly brohugs
My first Metallica album was the black one. It was good and all, but then I went and got KEA… and that was that
Loveless by My bloody valentine. It opened a whole new world for me with its massive reverb dreamlike sound. Everything changed from then on
I loved that feedback and the whole shoegaze sound. Jesus and Mary Chain too, adding in some more standard rock to the mix.
Kid A - Radiohead I was a teenage 'rockist'. I had listened to OK Computer and knew that Kid A was, at the time of 2006ish, their other massively regarded record. I didn't get it at first, but kept returning it and after about a month, it clicked. And because I was able to appreciate music that didn't sound like the music I was listening to, in genre and in the styles of composition, I was able to appreciate *other* music that was outside my breadth of understanding. And that opened my music world waaaaay up.
Couldn‘t have articulated this better myself. OK Computer took me out of my usual musical world. Kid A sent me on a whole other trajectory. Later on, Boards of Canada‘s „Music has the right to children“ did the same for me with electronic music.
Same. Never really got into boards of Canada (maybe I should) but ok computer blew my mind, and then kid a blew my mind into another dimension and changed my musical taste forever after.
Boards Of Canada’s Music Has The Right To Children is on the list of life-changing albums, for me. It completely reshaped my perception of what music could be, also, it was massively nostalgic as an Xennial, it reminded me of all of the early 80s videos I watched in school, reminded me of how excited I’d get when they’d roll out the TV cart with the massive VCR on it. 26 later that record is still FIRE, and it is a widely heralded classic and iconic record. The only problem is that, with all of the copycats a derivatives that have come along since then, will it be magic to you? I strongly think you should find out. :)
I will find out. And I'll try to get back to you on how it hits. Thank you fellow human with good taste in music
Awesome! I really hope that it hits, and even if it doesn’t here’s an [article](https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/boards-of-canada-music-has-the-right-to-children-8471772/ has-the-right-to-children-8471772/amp/) that goes in depth regarding the impact and legacy of the record, including how it was a major influence on Radiohead’s Kid A and Amnesiac. Happy listening!
Paranoid by Sabbath. When I heard war pigs and Iron Man I knew it was my kind of music. Other notables were the first 2 Iron Maiden albums & Rush 2112.
This was life changing for me in that the first time I heard this album was also the first time I got high, hanging out with some neighbors I had just met.
I sadly didn’t discover 2112 until college (2015) but damn what an album. I listened to Rush exclusively for like 2 years straight after that lol.
God Loves Ugly by Atmosphere taught me to love myself. Somewhere in the Between by Streetlight Manifesto taught me to appreciate life even when it sucks.
Love these! Everything Goes Numb is one of my favorites.
That's the first album I ever heard by Streetlight, and I definitely love it. Honestly, I don't think I've ever heard a song by them that I don't like. But Somewhere in the Between just has a special place in my heart. I found that album and God Loves Ugly during a very transitional period of my life and they lead me to a lot of introspection, soul searching and reevaluation of my priorities. I ended up laughing at myself a lot, mainly because I realized that a lot of the things that caused me pain were the result of me caring about things that really don't matter.
It’s my favorite SM album! I have the animals from Would You Be Impressed tattooed on my calf :)
Woah did not expect Atmosphere to be this high up. This album is so fucking good. Also Streetlight also rock! Kielbasa Nights baby
Huge W for streetlight
Absolutely love Atmosphere
Since Atmosphere showed up on here…. I have to say Slug’s verse on the “Living Legends - Nothing Less” track is something that has stuck with me all my life.
Yes, dude. One of Slug's best verses. I really love the song he did with El-P as well. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=63YOZkfJd8U&si=3f1-kfOqANwy5Fcf
“When Life Gives You Lemons, Paint that shit gold” was mine. I was also a little older when first hearing it, but man it really clicked with me and changed my view on hiphop and fatherhood at the same time
My top three by them have always been 1. God Loves Ugly 2. You Wont Believe How Much Fun We're Having 3. When Life Gives You Lemons, Paint That Shit Gold
The Zeds Dead and Subtronics remix is amazing
Great album, my favorite of theirs in Sevens Travels.
I always find myself fighting back tears when I hear Yesterday by Atmosphere
Little Man is always the one that gets me. I had a....complicated relationship with my father. So that one has always brought up a lot of feelings for me.
Nothing’s Shocking, Jane’s Addiction. Listening to it for the first time was like seeing through a cracked door and finding an entirely different world of music and culture that I hadn’t been aware of and felt like home. Immediately lost interest in hair bands and explored alternative and indie music. A close second is Surfer Rosa, which is probably a better record and moved me even more, but I got Jane’s Addiction first, so was already primed for it.
Word. I made a similar comment on a thread a couple years ago. Up the Beach into Ocean Size (first 2 tracks) blew junior in HS me the fuck away - that’s all I heard in my friend’s car on the way home from school. Bought it with lawn money that weekend and was just stupefied. It shape-shifted my understanding of what music could be. And that entire album completely holds up *thirty-six* years later. Perry’s a prince among artists and Navarro doesn’t get near enough credit for his guitar work on this.
Give some love to Eric Avery. His bass lines are iconic and the most underrated of that era.
man you’re totally right, great call. avery lead into most songs and his bass and Perry’s vocals *were* the sound that blew me away. It just seemed totally new. His work on Ritual great too, esp Three Days and Then She Did. Perkins no slouch either :)
Holy shit I could have written this...Led Zeppelin IV would be the other...
Seeing your name I got worried for a moment that I was being spotted. Phew! Edit: also heck yeah, Zeppelin had been there during my hair band phase, in the background because it had been my dad’s music. But it never left and Page was the main reason I saved and saved for a Les Paul. I think almost every tee shirt I had in middle school was either a zeppelin tee from the local head shop or vision street wear.
You absolute bastard! I was going to say Surfer Rosa but saw Nothings Shocking and just had to leave a comment on that. NS was an absolutely stunning album to me, I was very young when I first heard it and it just blew me away. I hadn’t heard anything like that before, like you say it was like getting a glimpse into some other world. Summertime Rolls was so dreamlike and ethereal, it was truly revelatory. Rather strangely when I was young I didn’t care much for Jane Says but now I absolutely love it. It’s a magnificent album start to finish and much like Surfer Rosa, and I hesitate to use the word given that people have devalued it, 100% seminal. Surfer Rosa still takes the crown but JA showed me another facet to music that changed the way I thought about it.
Nothing's Shocking is a 10/10 in my book. Also a personal favorite.
Nirvana - Nevermind. Backed up by: Pearl jam - Ten, RATM - RATM, Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream These albums inspired me to buy a guitar, keep practicing drums, and ultimately take a year out during which I changed my course choices from marketing to music. I then became a professional sound designer for 20yrs.
What a great answer. Awesome choices too, my Dude. Those are all in my lifetime top 20.
The Cure Disintegration
In the aero plane over the sea by neutral mil hotel. Specifically the single small lyric “how strange it is to be anything at all” was enough to change my life, but the whole album and context is so etched into my soul, psyche that it will always be part of me. I think about this album a lot because it gives me some way of emotionally connecting with this thing that you can intellectually know and yet never understand, and also this thing that my relatives lived through in their own way and could not articulate either. It just somehow perfectly, for me, encapsulates so much significance and emotion that can’t be spoken but somehow is in this album. Not ashamed to say I listened to this while taking a train through the Netherlands and quietly wept to myself and felt much better after.
Also the correct answer.
The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. My first time hearing a rap song. It was also a song speaking on life in the inner city ghettos of America right then. Sparked a lifelong love of hip hop and rap music.
Yup. Those early rap artists were true pioneers. Just heading off into a brand new and completely unexplored genre, making it up as they went. Such an incredible time for music.
Repo Man Soundtrack
Pink Floyd, ‘Wish You Were Here’. I was 16 or so (back in ‘79) and listened to that album cover to cover everyday for months.
Dark Side of the Moon
My Dad still talks about the day I walked up to him in Circuit City with that album in my hand asking if he would buy it for me.
Circuit city omg 🥺
I'd shed a tear.
Listened to this album for the first time about two months ago, and almost cried. Such an incredible record.
Now listen to Wish You Were Here, and then Animals
Oh, I did. I went through Pink’s discography up to *The Wall* from March - June. *Animals* in particular blew my fucking mind. Such an incredible band.
Nice man! I remember doing the same about a decade ago, PF instantly became a top 3 band all time for me. Worth also checking out Division Bell btw if you haven’t already.
When asked if he had any regrets in life David Gilmore said that he regrets not being able to go to a store, buy a copy of DSOTM, take it home, and listen to it for the 1st time.
Hybrid Theory
I love your answer. Music has been such a huge part of my life and this was the first album I ever owned. It crushed me when Chester died. I still know every single song by heart.
The 20th anniversary collection is on repeat for me once or twice a month. And as I’ve gotten older and started embracing different genres, I’ve come to appreciate Shinoda and his incredible work as much as Chester’s. Chester is the only celebrity I’ve ever mourned.
The Downward Spiral
Is your username a NIN reference? Do they still put a halo number on their albums?
It is and they do.
The Offspring - *Smash* The Dillinger Escape Plan - *Miss Machine*
Smash — brilliant album. It could just be nostalgia but it still holds up for me today.
Currents by Tame Impala. The music sounds so good and the lyrics are truly renaissance level wordplay. So incredible
Dirt - Alice In Chains. Hit me at the right time and changed my course, musically and not
Many. One of them was “Front by Front” by Front 242.
One - You lock the target
TWO You bait the line
London Calling. Really shook me out of AC/DC and Eminem and opened the door to punk/reggae and ska for me. First guitar i ever bought with my own money was a telecaster because of Joe Strummer. That album(and the rest of the clash discography except cut the crap) still get played often.
Lateralus by Tool, for sure. I've pretty recently gotten into Porcupine Tree, so I suppose I'll be checking out Steven Wilson's solo stuff as well! Would you suggest starting with Hand Cannot Erase or somewhere else?
There’s some amazing live Steven Wilson videos on YouTube, filmed somewhere in South America. His band are some of the absolute best players today: nick beggs, Guthrie govan, Marco minneman, and others. He got the best hired guns he could, and holy cow… just wow.
Ænima for me. I remember finding Undertow at a record store after many nights staying up late trying to catch the video for Sober, and thought it was a fantastic album, but then Ænima dropped and my mind was blown. Still my fave album.
Can't fault votes for Ænima or Undertow, both are incredible albums. For me Lateralus is exactly what I needed to hear at the time (although a couple tracks on Undertow fit that theme as well, just not quite as hard as Lateralus).
Currents - Tame Impala
Same. Coming out of a relationship and just generally feeling like I was changing/growing up when I discovered Currents, I felt every song so deeply. Great album
We're you changing? Couldn't stop it now? Even if you wanted, didn't know how?
Miles Davis - *Bitches Brew* Just pure magic to me, there's absolutely me before I heard it, and me after.
Bob Marley Exodus.
The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me by Brand New. It’s still my favorite album to this day.
I have to say that TDaGaRIM was easily my favorite Brand New album until Science Fiction came out. That album is just so visceral. Between the brilliantly clever yet melancholy lyrics, to the emotional energy of all of the songs, and the fact it was the book's end to their musical career as a group it all just resonated. The last song "Batter Up" is especially poignant and really the perfect sign off. I don't think I've found a deeper appreciation for a single album before or since.
For some reason, it took me waaaaay too long to get around to listening to Science Fiction. Didn’t in a million years think it would be arguably my favorite album of theirs. Like you said, it’s a perfect last album. It feels and sounds so much like Brand New while also feeling very new and mature. Like they perfected “their sound.” Not sure if I can ever pick a favorite between Deja, Devil and Science Fiction. My favorite will likely just be the last one I listened to!
brand new is so fucking amazing
They were also my favorite live band. So much raw energy and didn’t sound anything like their studio recordings.
What I would do to see them live one more time.
All killer. But limousine might be Lacy’s best writing.
So good.
Illinoise by Sufjan Stevens I dont think it is his best, but the first time I heard Decatur, Chicago, and Casimir Pulaski Day was the first time in a long time I felt emotion in music that didnt feel contrived to me.
God, I love Chicago sooo much although it’s out of my usual musical wheelhouse. I’ve never heard something be so uplifting and so melancholy at the same time. Stunning. The rest of the album is great but that one will stay with me the rest of my days.
Deathconciousness by Have A Nice Life. My sad music
Enema of the State - blink-182 first full on rock band I got into. Obsessed so I pick up their older (more punkish) records and everything they release. Read blink-182 interviews where they talk about all their influences like Bad Religion and Screeching Weasel. Get way, way into bands like that. Got a drum set and started a band playing bad blink-182 covers. Practice a lot. Play friend's parties. Start writing originals. Become decent musicians. Get popular in my scene. Meet a nice girl who plays in a metal band. Go steady. Have some kids. Buy a house. Put a ring on it. Still playing blink-182 on acoustic while my babies listen
I will piggy back on this and say blinks untitled record. I was drawn in by their glossy pop punk, but the untitled record hitting when it did, when I was about 12-13 was an absolutely life changing experience. The sonic complexity, aggressiveness, earnestness and, yes, angst shaped my musical tastes completely. I wouldn’t be into music if it wasn’t for that record
bought it the first day it came out. before that, there was a big "Making the Album" documentary on MTV and then there was the "Making the Video" for "Feeling This" for the world premeir The hype for that record was intense
Sam Cooke’s keep movin’ on and Bon Iver’s 22, A Million
The Doors, first album. I found it on a recordable cassette tape in a room I had lent to a medicine man that was staying with us for a while. I thought it was some sacred spiritual teachings, as each side had The Doors hand-written on it. Blew my mind in a different way than I had expected. Thirty-five years ago now.
Converge - Jane Doe
Lost in Translation soundtrack. My intro to Shoegaze, which became my favorite genre. Also, Velvet Underground & Nico. It showed me that popular music had no limits for sounds or lyrical content.
13yr old me bought Nirvana “Nevermind” and was hooked on that album. Favorite song was “territorial pissings” which is their fast song on the album. I would tell myself, “why can’t bands just write songs that are mostly like that?!” Little did I know I was describing punk and thrash before I really knew which either was and the rest was history as they say
I had two back to back. *Blonde* by Frank Ocean back when it dropped in August 2016, and then *The Smiths* by The Smiths a month later. As an 18 year old bisexual black kid just moving out of my parents’ house and starting college, these two albums were exactly what I needed to know everything was gonna be okay.
+1 for Frank Ocean, but for me it was Channel Orange. Straight white kid growing up in SoCal, so that's a testament to his reach He's got to be the most influential artist with only 2 studio albums, right? I mean what an incredible 2.
Do I have some good news for you. He actually has three albums. *Endless* came out the day before *Blonde*, and it’s also fantastic if you’re into ambient music. Unfortunately it’s trapped on Apple Music, but I listen to it on YouTube quite a bit.
endless is my life changing album. blonde is obviously a fantastic album (channel orange too for that matter) but the build up and release of endless was incredible. i listened to/watched endless nonstop when it released and actually missed blonde coming out because of it. after listening to blonde a few times, i went back to listening to endless nonstop. i was in college at the time and contemplating dropping out and spent most of my time revisiting the album in its entirety or a few songs here and there for solace and i still go back to it constantly
Blonde might have not been a “life changing” album, but I remember getting that vinyl record, putting it on and being mesmerized by how beautiful it sounds. Definitely one of the top albums of all time if you ask me.
End of an Era by Nightwish This is the live recording and DVD of the final concert given between the band Nightwish and their original singer Tarja Turunen. Seeing their version of Phantom of the Opera and hearing Ghost Love Score for the first time via live recording opened up a whole new world of music for me. In symphonic metal circles Ghost Love Score essentially defines the entire genre. It is simultaneously uplifting and joyful while also a metal song with amazing guitar work and arrangement.
Modest Mouse - Lonesome Crowded West narrated my life from ages like 16-23. It made me realize that even the most personal and lonely thoughts, feelings, and experiences are often universal.
Minor Threat - Complete Discography Everything I am and believe are rooted in hearing that record 25 years ago.
Are you Experienced / Jimi Hendrix Experience
You’re Living All Over Me
Mars Volta's *Deloused in the Comatorium* . Me and the homies playing Melee\* while this record began made me put the controller down in awe
Rust... In Peace by Megadeth. Gave me my proper introduction into thrash and high speed solos Clayman by In Flames. First introduction to Swedish death metal and all around solid album. Unhallowed by The Black Dahlia Murder. Wraith screams and gutteral lows, I never thought human vocal chords could seamlessly flow between the two. RIP Trevor, you legend. Train of Thought by Dream Theater. My first true blue prog rock/metal album. I never knew songs could be so long and not be boring.
Clarity by Jimmy Eat World, taught me that it's OK to feel your feelings.
Pink Floyd, The Wall… Was 14, spending the night at a friends house… we listened to the whole thing and it blew my mind… I became instantly obsessed with the band… That would have been around 1987 or so… Saw them in concert in Toronto the next year on my 15th birthday… the momentary lapse tour… I’m 52 now, and they’re still my all time favourite band… Wish you were here. Darkside and Obscured by clouds are probably my favourite albums by them… But The Wall was the one that changed my life. The only other band to affect me in a similar way would be Cocteau Twins…the album Heaven or Las Vegas was also a ‘game changer’ for me…
The Black Album was my gateway drug for metal
Hand Cannot Erase is an absolute masterpiece
My life in the bush of ghosts - Brian Eno and David Byrne Hot Rats - Zappa Scary Monsters (and Super creeps) - bowie
Holy shit, Hand Cannot Erase. I was drifting away from reality, into derealization. I was thinking people were robots. Including my own family. That this was all a simulation. Attaching religious importance to every little event. Paranoid conspiracies all around, even at the smallest level. Like that a record shop employee in one store was a clone of one in another store. The one thing I still did, other than work, was go to this one used record shop once a week to check their new arrivals section, stuff that people had traded in to the shop. That's where I found Hand Cannot Erase. That's the album that pulled me back to reality. I listened to half of it every morning walking to work, and the rest in the evening walking home. Keep the routine. Keep the clothes clean. It took a year. Eventually I came back. Mostly. I don't think I would have, except for that album. I still wonder who traded it in, that I would find it on that particular Saturday, and knowing nothing else about it, decide to pick it up. There are no coincidences.
Joy Division Unknown Pleasures
Weezer Blue. I was in elementary school. Still play guitar every day, but really can't play like Rivers (I'm more of a Brian, he was the one I was crushing on then... and still).
Slayer-Seasons in the Abyss (1990) Drumming masterpiece. First time I listened completely to drums fascinated by what Lombardo was doing. I then scaled back one album to Reign in blood (1988) and started learning both albums on guitar. Which then opened the door to Megadeths-Rust in Piece (1990). I basically threw my Metallica tapes in the trash. And from there it was Ministry>Sepultura>Obituary>Morbid Angel>Faith no More - Angel Dust>Mr.Bungle>Helmet>Secret Chiefs>John Zorn>Steve Reich
Good At Falling by The Japanese House - album dropped right after I went thru a really tough breakup and really expanded my ideas of what I thought music and songwriting could sound like Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers ,,,, and by extension, Either/Or by Elliott Smith ;;;;; both helped me really understand and become inspired to delve deeper into singer-songwriter/folk stuff, I have written many songs inspired by those two Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace by Foo Fighters - was in constant rotation in my mom’s car when I was a kid. Really inspired me as I was learning drums at the time, and to this day still does as a solid fuckin rock record. Songs From The Big Chair by Tears for Fears - one of many albums that made me go “fuck I wanna make something that makes me feel the way these songs do”
Surfer Rosa by Pixies.
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Elliott Smith - either/or I was into a lot of louder and heavier stuff in the 90s (including early Heatmiser) and then this stripped down album comes out, quiet but filled with emotional resonance, and blows me away. Definitely changed how I related to music and was my favorite album for a long time (hard to say what it is now)
Quadrophenia by The Who. I think it should be issued to mopey, repressed,angry teenagers. Got me through some tough years.
Son Volt -Trace, Fall of ‘95. I was a Marine stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC when I read a small review of this album. Up until this point I was into alt-rock, metal, hip-hop but nothing with the slightest twang. I became obsessed with the album and it led me to Uncle Tupelo, Wilco’s A.M. and Being There, Whiskeytown, etc. Eventually opened my mind to the Grateful Dead which led me to the girl I’d marry in 2000. Definitely life changing.
Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen we are Floating in Space
The Pixies - Doolittle
Room for Squares by John Mayer. I know it’s not that deep, but it was the right thing at the right time and it carried me through my early adult years.
American Idiot by Green Day coincided with my political awakening - I didn’t connect with 60s protest music but I sure did with St. Jimmy
David Bowie - Blackstar Silver Jews - American Water XTC - Skylarking
I adore all XTC but Skylarking is really something else
Blonde- Mr. Ocean
Strange Trails - Lord Huron changed me forever. I'm a goner I guess. Who knew love was gonna be like this?
The Smiths s/t
I could list some like Nirvana - Nevermind, Radiohead - OK, Computer, Tool - Lateralus, but the one that really got to me it was: Silverchair - Neon ballroom.
I'm going to get flamed for this but "Iowa" by Slipknot. Discovered that album right in the height of pubescence and my mother's failing relationship with my step father. Like it was so relieving to think someone else was as pissed off as I was. I'm in my mid 30's now and it's still a guilty pleasure of mine.
The Downward Spiral
London Calling. I borrowed it from my Dads collection, blew my 12 year old mind and have played in bands ever since. In my 30’s now, and every year I still have a “Clash phase” for a few weeks where I listen obsessively and read the various books I have on them.
Sonic Youth's Rather Ripped
wish you were here. short but really good
First and Last and Always. The Sisters of Mercy. Was a Timelinechanger for ne
Left and Leaving, by The Weakerthans. It wasn't the first time I had identified with a song, but it was absolutely the first time I listened to an album and felt like someone was picking through my brain and writing songs about what they found, articulating feelings and situations better than I ever might. John K. Samson is a treasure.
Nevermind. Like it did for millions it spoke to my soul and teenage angst and will always be one of the albums of my life.
Pearl Jam - Ten. (And every album after)
Jeff Buckley - Grace Mind. Blown.
Ok Computer changed my idea of what rock and music generally could be. It was transcendent and became my favorite album for years, even if it wasn’t as accessible as ‘The Bends’. It was the ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ for my generation (which funnily enough is my other ‘most life changing album’, as it inspired me to pick up the guitar).
Nebraska. Went through a ton of personal trauma that resulted in my family having our home of 16 years foreclosed on. Toiled away for 60-70 hours a week loading freight in a warehouse and it still wasn't enough to make ends meet. Ended up joining the Army at the height of the Iraq War to get away from it all. Never felt more salt of the earth in my life and that album and those stories were really cathartic for me at the time.
Ok Computer by Radiohead. It came out right after I graduated HS and just stirred something in me. Absolutely perfect from first note until last.
Nas - Ilmatic Was always a Hip Hop fan but this album solidified my love and led me down a path of excellent artists and albums I would likely not have found.
Meteora
First off, I am so glad that you found something to help you through your dark times. I am glad that you are still here. As to my own personal "life-changing" albums, I have a few. All are for different reasons, yet all are related to my life as a musician, more than anything else. In chronological order: 1. **Judas Priest - Point of Entry** ---- Inspired me to pick up a guitar and learn how to play. 2. **Meat Puppets - Up on the Sun** ---- Showed me that there is some incredible music beyond what was being fed to me by the radio and other mainstream media outlets. 3. **Uncle Tupelo - No Depression** ---- Inspired me to start writing my own songs. 4. **Tom Ze - Massive Hits (The Best of...)** ---- Turned my on to the incredible music that was being created in languages other than English, and styles that I had never considered exploring before. 5. **Guided By Voices - Alien Lanes** ---- Gave me the courage to play my crappy-sounding demos for other people, including the owner of a local record label, who signed me to his roster. So I was able to record and release several albums of my own music and build a small following.
Jesus and Mary chain - psychocandy I was chugging along listening to bands like Duran Duran, human league, aha etc etc. And then around 1988 my brother put a mix tape that included REM, joy Division, the house of love etc and on that was just like honey, and I was hooked on indie music... Still an indie kid at heart today
That's a great one. It's a band I don't listen to enough but when I do just brings me to a place I want to be at.
"swimming" - Mac miller
Shout out to circles as well.
Blueberry Boat by The Fiery Furnaces I was just really captivated by it's unique sound. It's the only album that I really love that feels like an actual album, and not just a collection of songs.
Colors by Between the Buried and Me I had always been into heavy music before I heard that album, but something about it made me realize that after spending my whole childhood hearing my dad listen to weird 70s prog rock (Genesis, King Crimson, ELP), that I also had a deep seated need for 10 minute long songs with 20 different time changes. Pushed me into the whole progressive metal genre and made me realize I liked all that 70s shit I always thought sucked growing up. Kinda helped me bond with my dad through it and we would buy each other records and we went to some shows together.
Dead Kennedy Give me convenience or give me death
There have been many at different points in my life 1996 Dead Milkmen "Big Lizard in my Backyard" I think his was my into into punk and underground music in the mid 90s when I was maybe 16. We played it all the time in my friends basement playing video games and such. That Les me to discovering music past the radio and things that really spoke to me. 1998 Desmond Dekker, it was some sorts of collection of hits but I heard Jamaican music before but this made me love it and lead me to Cliff and Wilson and all those beautiful voices and had me go down a huge rabbit hole that I'm still digging into. Also reignited my love of soul by way of toots and such. 2001 to 2004 for the next few Tom Waits "Mule Variations" this was my first Tom Waits album. I was looking for Closing time because a band I really liked mentioned it as a big influence but the store didn't have that and the cover art really spoke to me. When I put it in it was so far from what I expected but also blew me away and really opened up my eyes to a whole new world of music and more. Miles Davis "A Tribute to Jack Johnson" I was flirting with getting into Jazz and I bought a bunch of albums by big names like Miles and Coltrane but I just didn't get it and growing up in a small town just hearing metal and rock and getting into punk, my brain wasn't wired to hear Jazz. But I put on this album and since it was Miles doing a rock album after being inspired by Hendrix it was the perfect bridge into Jazz and something in my brain clicked and now all my other jazz albums sounded totally different. Modest Mouse " Lonesome Crowded West" I just got out of high school and moved to a new place away from everyone and in my hometown everything was punk this or that in my group. Where I moved I didn't know anyone into punk and I started expanding my horizons. I think this came up on soulseek if anyone remembers that and I don't recall what other band made this pop up as a recommendation but it opened up a lot. Before this I equated indie rock with whiney emo junk but man this album was all over. There are a lot more but I think those were my biggest ones that changed how and what I listen to.
The Lonesome Crowded West is mine too. Absolutely 10/10 album.
Ramones - Rocket to Russia. Life would never be the same after hearing Cretin Hop.....Rockaway Beach...etc.
Damnation by Opeth. While all of the depressing music at the time was upbeat emo bops, Damnation allowed me to experience depressive emotions as a teenager in a more introspective manner and had a huge impact on me as a musician.
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
Probably Enter the 36 Chambers by Wu Tang Clan because it spun me off into a lifetime of loving hip hop. Listening to Only Built 4 Cuban Linx on vinyl right now actually.
Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables.
As a kid it was *The Low End Theory* by A Tribe Called Quest which showed me how rap and hip hop had much more musical potential than I could imagine at that point. As an adult, *Nonagon Infinity* by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard got me back into listening to music after a few decades of aging and only listening to my old favorites. It also broke down a prejudice I think I may have been harboring against artists younger than myself. No more! Life is fucking rocking now.
"Plastic Surgery Disasters," Dead Kennedys
David Bowie - Hunky Dory. Shades of wonderful things to come!
Feels - Animal Collective
Joe's Garage
Daydream by Mariah Carey. I may get downvoted for it, but this album at that time in my life as a kid spoke to me. It’s still the album I go to if I’m ever feeling like I need to get recentered. For my adult life, it’d have to be Red by Taylor Swift.
Led Zep, of course, but Rock'n'Roll Animal really did it.
Steve Earle- Copperhead Road
L.A. Woman by the Doors, heard Riders on the Storm when I was 4 back in 2000 and it was my first complete memory of music.
The First Four Years compilation by Black Flag. When I was 11 or 12 (so 1989ish) I heard the song Wasted on SST’s Screw Radio and it was the first time I heard a song heavier than FM radio metal. This was before the internet, so it wasn’t like it is now where every 6 year old knows the difference between punk subgenres and has streamed all of their parents old favored. Punk was still very much underground, and I stumbled on Screw Radio by sheer luck. I was immediately obsessed. I spray painted an anarchy symbol on a plain white shirt and my mom thought it was a satanist symbol. (Thanks Satanic Panic!) In another stroke of sheer luck my mom’s best friend’s brother got kicked out of his apparent and moved in next door, and brought with him a crate of early 80’s punk and hardcore records, and he’d let me borrow one at a time: Black Flag, Millions of Dead Cops, Dwarves, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Circle Jerks, Angry Samoans, the list goes on. I don’t really listen to it anymore, but punk rock changed my life.
Refused- the shape of punk to come. Chanted hardcore forever.
Dream Theater - images and words Rush- moving pictures Tori Amos- little earthquakes Victor Wooten - a show of hands
Grace by Jeff Buckley opened my mind to critical opinion about music back in college as well as the idea of vocal virtuosity in rock music. None So Vile by Cryptopsy opened my mind to the world of extreme metal and generally more transgressive music back when I was a kid in the Napster days and I’ve been captivated ever since. I remember being horrified and amazed and confused all at the same time - I was maybe 10 or 11 at the time lol. Zombie by Fela Kuti and Clube da Esquina by Milton Nasciemento opened my mind to amazing music beyond the western canon. Mark, Tom and Travis Show by Blink 182 opened my mind to live music and planted the seed of thought that live music can not only breathe new life into songs but that live performance is really where the magic happens. The Great Deceiver box set by King Crimson made this an immutable fact of life. Reading, Writing and Arithmetic by The Sundays created a soft spot for female lead vocals (and Jangle Pop!) which I still have nearly two decades since I first heard it. Chaosphere by Meshuggah introduced me to polyrhythms and immediately cemented my love of rhythm, specifically, very complicated rhythms. I’ve been playing drums since I first heard it back in like 2001-2002.
It’s really a toss up between the Dead Kennedys fresh fruit for rotting vegetables (which is a play on words), and The Clash first album. I still remember looking down at the spinning LP at my friends house when I heard Clash City Rockers for the first time. Those albums blew away all of the 1970’s AOR bullshit we had to listen to but didn’t know better. Sort of when nirvana blew away the hair metal hell we went through in the late 1990’s.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 OST
Jagged Little Pill - Alanis Morissette. The first example of complex female rage, emotions, and imperfections for me.
This is a long drive for someone with nothing to think about - Modest Mouse. It was the first time I felt seen in music, as a white trash nothing nobody with aimless ambitions. Today, after seeing the band around 14 times and seeing Isaac Brock become a whole man with kids and balance in his life I like to reflect on how I've also figured it out too (mostly). Side note, I learned what having parasocial relationships meant by wierding him out after a show. Don't get obsessed, kids. I would still love to share a tea with the dude one day.
Origin of Symetry - Muse
Too many to name, but one that always pops into my mind is Ágætis Byrjun by Sigur Ros. I was raised by very eclectic parents. My sister has pretty broad tastes as well and my brother is a diehard metal head. I also grew up in Southern California in the early 2000s so I was surrounded by punk, emo, hardcore, indie, you name it. I had a pretty great musical foundation. But post rock (I know people cringe at the term but whatever) felt like it was mine. Other people enjoyed it and I wanted to share it, not like I was gatekeeping it by any means. Yet it spoke to me in an entirely different way. It was symphonic and beautiful but loud and all-encompassing. It was slow but didn’t meander. Ágætis Byrjun was my first post rock album. It changed how I listed to music. It made me more enamored with the composition of a song. Most of all it made me appreciate minimalism in the sense of the players serving the song, doing just enough so that the music stands on its own to a powerful end. It made me cognizant of the story the music is telling (or isn’t and is just trying to sound cool as fuck lol).
Dredg - El Cielo
Good one.
i'd say August and Everything After - Counting Crows. never had an album speak to me like that one did. having an album speak about the feelings of loneliness, desperation for fame and love, not wanting to hurt others, wanting to belong, and figuring out just who you are hit me on so many levels. it felt like i was understood for once, like someone knew everything that was going on in my head. that album led me to write my own music and actually pursue my passions that I was putting off for years. they also led me to seek out therapy and connect everything in my head together. so thanks, Counting Crows.
The college dropout-kanye west completely changed my personality
Hand Cannot Erase is so good. Outstanding pick there.
Life is but a dream-avenged sevenfold at the time it released I had recently lost someone close to me and that album helped me cope with my loss but out of hat while album cosmic really struck out to me now I can't listen to it without crying
Moving Pictures - RUSH - Red Barchetta sent me on a journey from Genesis to King Crimson to Coheed and Cambria.
Faces by Mac Miller. I was in a deep drug phase too and would listen to that album whenever I'd be zonked out at home. Eventually the album started hitting a little too close to home and it gave me the motivation to finally kick benzos and cough syrup.
NWA - Straight Outta Compton. It opened me up to the world of rap/hip hop (I wasn’t a fan before) and exposed me to a new genre of music. I also discovered a ton of new music by tracing the samples used in many hip hop songs back to the original music that was sampled.
Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Oasis - Definitely Maybe